Ana Antunes, Spring 2023 DM Faculty Grant Recipient

Briefly describe your project and the challenges, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome in the execution of it. What were the professional, academic, and personal motivations underlying your project?

One of the most important things to me, both in my personal life and in my professional endeavors, is to believe young people and amplify their voices. While I was conducting my research project, the country saw a wave of laws that took away young people’s right to learn about gender and sexuality. Additionally, there is a national discussion about the positive and negative aspects of social media use; with the Utah governor arguing that social media is responsible for the increase of mental health issues among youth. The lack of youth voices in these conversation points to the fact that adults are not taking in consideration youth’s agency and expertise in their own experiences.

My project went against the national trend to give young people tools that allow them to make decisions for themselves. During this semester, I was able to work with undergraduate and graduate students to develop lessons that taught critical digital literacy to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at a local community center. The digital literacy program was centered around ideas of gender and sexuality and its goal was to help youth identify trustworthy sources of information. Working with young people on these skills was a blast and I learned a lot about what young people do on the internet this semester. Prior to creating the lessons, we talked to the students about what they watch, play, and do online. I have learned about the prominence of YouTube and YouTube content creators in the lives of elementary school students. Working with the children also reaffirmed my conviction that when they are given the opportunity, they can critically engage with content and make choices that are right for them.

How did the Digital Matters Faculty Fellowship dovetail with your academic pursuits? What interested you in applying for this fellowship?

I applied for Digital Matters because I believe that instead of prohibiting young people from using digital tools, we need to explore ways to better incorporate these tools in teaching and learning. The opportunity to explore and analyze how including digital technology in the teaching of sexuality education motivated me to apply for the grant. As mentioned before, as options for learning about sex, sexuality, and gender become more restricted to youth, digital spaces often become one of the only spaces youths can learn, teach, and express their true selves.

What insights have you gained in regard to your specific field as a result of your project and fellowship experience?

Every time I have the chance to work with children, I am inspired and amazed. I think when it comes to sexuality education, adults underestimate them. Children are paying attention to the world around them, and they have insightful observations about their communities. Avoiding talking to them about issues such as sex, sexuality, gender, and other identity markers does not mean that they have not noticed how those operate in society. On the contrary, engaging in dialogue with young people on these topics helps them process information that they are getting from interactions with other kids, adults, and social institutions.

What would you tell potential Faculty Grant applicants to help them shape their own digital scholarship project?

My advice to others who are hoping to integrate digital tools in their scholarship is to be open minded about technology. I think we spend a lot of time thinking about the evils of technological advancement and not enough time thing about who integrating these technologies can help us, as researchers, connect to communities we would have a change to do otherwise. It allows us to reach folks with our scholarship that would not have the opportunity to learn about the amazing things we are doing on campus. Among many other things, I do believe digital tools have the power to bridge the gap between the Ivory Tower and the rest of the world.

What do you see as the upcoming important issues surrounding digital scholarship in your field? What areas/issues could students and scholars investigate to extend the knowledge in this area?

Despite legislators’ best efforts, children are accessing the digital world younger, and research shows that legislation will not change this statistic. Incorporating critical digital literacy in all aspects of k-12 education is something that I believe is important. In relation to sexuality education, there is still little scholarship that focuses on how critical digital literacy can be used as a tool for teaching and learning.